


The boy who survived

by LittleMac15



Category: Naruto
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-10
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2020-10-13 16:15:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20585357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleMac15/pseuds/LittleMac15
Summary: What if Naruto and the nine-tails met earlier. Before the situation with Mizuki, way before Jiraiya forced the meeting between the two. The nine-tails doesnt meet the cocky prankster that Naruto pretends to be but the lonely child he hides.A story where Naruto leaves to a place where he can heal and still somehow manages to save and influence everyone. All the while becoming an amazing ninja.





	1. chapter 1

KEY Bold- kurama verbally talking

Regular- people verbally talking

Regular Italics- peoples thoughts/mentally talking

Underline- writing

In a world that was against your every move, you learn a lot of lessons not usually taught, Naruto was no exception. He discovered quickly that people saw what they wanted to see. He could be trying to approach a group of kids to join them in on their game, and all the parents could only see a demon fox in a child’s body near their child. Not that Naruto knew he had the demon fox deep inside him; not yet.

The people of Konoha only saw the nine tails, so they felt no remorse, sometimes even relief, with the boys forced isolation.

The orphanage had long stopped trying to fake kindness, always making him sleep on the floor. He received the worst punishments and was starved. But still, his horrible living conditions and abuse couldn't break Naruto.

He was kind of looking forward to going to school in a year or two. He could have friends and Iruka-Sensei would be there. Iruka and Naruto met when Naruto finally saved up for a treat and Iruka treated himself to a bowl of ramen after work. Ever since then, they kept running into each other. Iruka quickly warmed up to the tricky, cheery, but lonely boy. Naruto, was ecstatic; surprised that he met someone that treated him with common decency.

A few weeks before it was Naruto’s seventh birthday, Naruto found himself cornered by three drunk Chunin. They kept slurring on about an attack that Naruto knew nothing about. Their stares were liquid fire, as if Naruto was a nuisance and killer rolled into one small package. Defenseless against the older ninja, Naruto could do nothing but protect his head as he was used as a punching bag. This beating was the worst so far. Others usually threatened to kill the boy but never went past a broken bone, these guys unfortunately went to multiple fractured ribs and a bleeding lung. They only stopped kicking the poor boy long after his body slipped into unconsciousness.

When Naruto awoke, it was long into the night; hours after the beating. Naruto turned onto his back, ignoring his screaming muscles that were bound to bruise and his fractured ribs. He stared up at the stars, and for the first time in a long time, he let tears fall in the open. His sobs were silent and subdued, but with each silent hiccup, his ribs burned and his heart broke a bit more.

“Why do they hate me, what did I do?” Naruto asked the stars, the sky, the hokage mountain, anyone who would listen. The stars didn’t answer, but someone else did.

**'Kit, you did absolutely nothing wrong'** A low, but comforting voice cut through the silent crying.

Naruto frantically looked around for the owner of the voice, but was met with the same abandoned alley. While confused, he didn't question the mysterious persons whereabouts out loud.

**'Here, close your eyes and concentrate on my voice.'** Naruto followed the instructions with little hesitation, he felt he could trust the voice for some reason. **'Now open your eyes.'**

No longer was Naruto in the alley, but dark, damp tunnels illuminated by strangely orange lights. Without any prompting, Naruto instinctively walked down a corridor into a wide room with water up to his shins. Across from the doorway, large bars sectioned the room; much like a cage.

Naruto didn't know if the bars stood the purpose of keeping something in, or something out. Not seconds later, two large, red eyes peering at the small boy. A large fox slowly laid his head down so that his snout stuck out between the bars. As he bowed his head, nine signature tails swayed around the giant fox. Naruto recognized the slow movements and the bearing of his nose as a peaceful sign.

**'Kit, do you know what I am?'** the foxes voice echoed throughout the room but didn't scare Naruto like it should have; the two red eyes continued to stare Naruto down.

"Your the Nine-Tailed Fox: Kyuubi. People have drawings of you at the festival on my birthday." Naruto answered without any questions.

The fox slowly laid down, his snout still between the giant bars.** 'Yes. Now, I can answer any question you have.'**

"Why do they hate me?" He didn’t look away from the fox, even when the fox released a huge sigh. The warm air ruffled his clothes and hair and smelled a bit like smoke.

**'Because they are scared of the chakra inside you. Your strength and Me.'** The fox spoke clearly but vaguely as it continued to stare at the young jailer. **'Young kit, I can feel how tired you are from here. It is time for you to wake up and return to your bed. I have healed you so that you are not in severe danger. Unfortunately, you have a scar across your chest from a deep gash. One of your attackers used a kunai on you.' **

Naruto turned from the fox to the distorted reflection of himself made by the water on the floor, for a second he just stared. “Let’s go back.” Naruto didn’t even question that he was talking to the Leaf village's biggest threat.

Naruto, despite agreeing with the fox, didn't immediately leave. He slowly approached the fox's snout. When he was an arms distance away, he laid his hand against the fox's wet nose and whispered a thank you. Without letting the fox react with more then widened eyes, Naruto asked another question.

“What’s your name?” Naruto's eyes drooped and his words slurred a touch.

'My name is Kurama, now kit get some rest. I have to talk to you more once you wake tomorrow.'

Naruto awoke from his nap in the alley, he got up and walked to his apartment. Part of him dismissed the fox as a dream, a sick joke played on him by his own loneliness. A small part was hoping it was real. So he just walked back to his house with only a healed scar and a shattered heart as evidence of the earlier beating.

The second his head hit the pillow, he was out.

————-

When Naruto awoke in the morning, he was in his apartment that lord Third had given to him so that the orphanage wouldn’t have to take care of him. He wasn't totally convinced that the fox was a figment of his imagination; a sign that his isolation was driving him mad. That was until he looked down and saw, a now healed scar across his chest.

**'Good, you're awake. We need to discuss what needs to happen.'** The fox's voice shocked Naruto so hard he physically jumped.

"Where, where..."

**'Kit, we share a mindscape. I can communicate with you through your thoughts.'** The fox huffed out an amused laugh. Unfortunately, not a moment later, the fox went serious again, **'Do you want to know everything?'**

For a second, Naruto almost asked what everything was, but instead he just gave a strong confirmation. Kurama asked the boy to sit down before explaining everything to the kit.

Naruto stayed silent as the fox told him that the reason he was hated was because he harbored the nine tails. The fox told him about his parents and what happened to them. He even told him that the only reason he (the fox) only started talking to the orphan now and not earlier was because of the immense chakra he possessed. Something about how it could poison the boy if he was exposed to it when his body wasn't prepared for it. Then finally, as Naruto sat shell-shocked with the info, Kurama hummed a comforting tune; in hopes to calm the shocked boy just a bit.

**'Kit, I was wondering, and you don't have to answer right away, but do you want to leave?'** If Naruto was paying attention, he would have thought that the fox's voice sounded like the fathers at the park when they kissed boo-boos and got their kids ice cream; but Naruto was oblivious to the Fox's obvious concern and affection.

“Hm?” Naruto hated how weak his voice sounded in a single noise. 'I can help you. I can train you like a shinobi and like a jinchuriki. Plus, if we leave, you will never have to be afraid of the people supposed to be protecting you' Kurama was praying silently that the boy accepted his offer, then he could train the boy and show him that people should never treat others like his village treated him.

Naruto thought about Iruka for a second, remembering the fun but awkward meetings. The thought passed quickly and he then remembered the cold floor he was forced to sleep on for two years at the orphanage, the anger and fear on every villager faces, the soul crushing loneliness that seemed to never go away as villagers actively avoided him, and even the way the alley floor dug into his shoulder blades as another drunk beat him up. With those thoughts, Naruto decided.

“Kurama, when will we leave?”

Naruto swore that he could feel the Fox's sad smile.


	2. chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bold-beasts talking  
regular-people talking  
italics-thoughts  
underlined-writing
> 
> One ripple can cause a tsunami, like how one event can change an entire future

As much as he wanted to, Naruto couldn’t leave until the next week.

He needed to pack and prepare for at least three weeks without a steady source of food or shelter. Kurama had the boy pack his little amount of clothes and belongings. Kurama then asked Naruto how much money the boy had saved up. Thankfully, Naruto never really spent much money; unfortunately, it was because he didn’t know if the merchants would hit him for trying to buy something.

Kurama felt a sense of responsibility over his kit. A little part of the demon fox had, at first, watched the boy to try and exploit a weakness in the seal. He soon found out that the child, his kit, was treated like trash in his own village, his own home. The demon may be cruel and indifferent, but he couldn’t allow the treatment to continue. Unfortunately, he was too late from keeping the boy completely safe. A fact that Kurama deeply regrets.

———

Naruto was growing restless, he knew for a fact that no one would notice him missing or that he was even planning to leave, but he couldn’t help the feeling that someone might find out what he was planning to do. He was worried about what they would do, if they would object or prevent him from leaving. A small part wanted no one to know in case they encouraged him leaving; that he was hated enough that people would exile him themselves.

Naruto had finished all the needed packing for his trip; he even successfully got the needed food and materials for the trip. No matter how many times the store manager’s kicked him out.

**'Kit.'** Kurama snapped at the kid, the restlessness was leaking into the mindscape. Frankly it was making the caged fox stir crazy.

Naruto startled.

The fox could understand the kit's boredom and paranoia; the boy's apartment wasn't the most fun place to wait.

**'Why don’t you write letters to Iruka, Dog-nii-san, and the Third Hokage? To make sure they know why you left. You want to that?'**

Naruto mulled over the idea. He felt bad about having to not tell Iruka, but if he wrote a letter, he could say goodbye. Unfortunately, as much as he wanted to say goodbye to Dog-nii-san, the Anbu member started avoiding Naruto two years ago.

Kurama told the boy how Dog-nii-san , Kakashi Hakate, was like a brother and suffered greatly from Kurama's attack on the village. But the letters were a good idea, even if he only gave one to Iruka and the Hokage. Plus, by the time the landlord reported his absence and the two got their letters, Naruto would be long gone.

“Sure. Do you want me to mention you?” Naruto asked as he looked around for paper and a writing utensil

**“No, don’t even mention that your getting help by someone. So that they won’t know that you know that you are a jinchuriki or that you can use my chakra.”**

“I can use your chakra?” Naruto's search stopped as he asked, surprised at the news.

The fox sighed, **“Not yet, but I will show you how, soon. Once we find a safe, secure place.”**

Naruto nodded thoughtfully, before his face split into a smile that could end wars. Kurama felt the kit's happiness and joy, and was once again plotting how to destroy the village who was supposed to protect the kit.

\----------

Naruto quickly got to work on the letters. The one to Lord Third was relatively easy. It simply said that he didn’t like being in the village and was leaving; Naruto kept it professional mainly because the Hokage and him only talked once or twice, so the bond was never strengthened.

When Naruto moved on to Iruka’s letter though, he was at a loss. Iruka was the only person that gave him the time of day lately. Iruka was the only reason, one of the only people that made Naruto hesitated to leave. So, Naruto apologized and asked Iruka to forgive him.

Despite what he earlier decided, Naruto tried to write a letter to Dog-nii-san. The boy only succeeded in writing a few things before he lost his nerve and threw the letter in a drawer in his desk. Out of sight, out of mind.

When the letters were done, Kurama told Naruto to rest. They were leaving that night.

————

Once night had fallen, Kurama woke the kit. Naruto was groggy, scared, but also kinda excited. His excitement put a wicked grin on the fox’s face. Naruto slipped through a crack in the border wall. Small enough to keep out shinobi, but big enough for a malnourished six year old boy to slip through. The instant Naruto cleared the village walls, Kurama directed the boy to a muddy stream.

“You need to coat yourself in mud, especially your neck, thighs, wrists, and ankles. Oh, and also the outside of your bag.” Kurama listed, he was nervous for his kit. Even if the plan was perfect, the thought of the kit being caught in the middle of running away was terrifying.

"Why"

**“You don’t have enough control or usage over your chakra, or mine, for it to be noticed. But you do have a distinct smell and so does your bag. If we disguise it in mud, they will only be able to smell mud.”** Kurama explained. He would much rather get the kit moving as quick as possible, but forcing the kit to hurry by yelling would be counterproductive.

“Oh that’s, that’s smart.”

Naruto soon was covered in mud; even his bag. "I'm going to need some new clothes." Naruto smiled softly at the amused feeling he felt from Kurama.

Naruto let the mud dry, so not to leave a mud trail too obvious, and then he was off. After only four close calls with a group of ninjas heading back or leaving the village, the two were finally in the clear. Just on the outside of the land of fire in a small, poor, neutral town, a boy and a demon settled down for the night; breathing easier than they had for the past week.

Back in the village hidden in the leaves, no one knew that the little boy holding the nine-tails chakra was gone.

————

Two weeks later, Kurama let Naruto have a day off from his hard, exhausting training of chakra control.

At first, Naruto complained, not one for breaks, giving up, or even relaxing. But with one comment on how a boy only turns seven once, Naruto bounded inside the little village he was living just outside of.

Naruto bought some candy and ramen. When the day neared noon, Naruto went to cloud watch. Naruto filled the air with rants about the shapes of some of the clouds and Naruto was pleased to know that kurama was listening to every word; occasionally adding his own idea of what the cloud looks like or doesn't look like.

Naruto decided, as he let his eyes fall closed under the blue sky, that this was the best birthday ever. Watching clouds with Kurama was all he needed.

Kurama felt an ache for the boy, even if he was happy, the fox demon knew he wasn't all Naruto needed. But he didn't broach that topic and simply focused on the present.

**“Kit, how in the world did you find enjoyment in watching clouds.” **

“ITS COOL Kurama, they are always changing. They never look the same, even the same cloud changes in a few seconds.” Naruto whined loudly. If anyone was around, they would assume the boy was bonkers.

** “You're the only person who thinks that. If there is someone who also finds enjoyment in cloud watching, they must be as nuts as you.”**

As Naruto spluttered and got defensive. Somewhere else, a boy about the same age sneezed violently. For a second he was confused, but then he shook it off with a comment about troublesome allergies and returned to cloud watching.

————

Five weeks after Naruto escaped the leaf village, Iruka went searching for the boy. Iruka usually just ran into Naruto in passing, sometimes they even ate together. But Iruka hasn’t seen Naruto in weeks. No streaks of yellow and orange, no pranks, not even a single grumble from a petty merchant alluded to Naruto’s whereabouts or happenings.

Finally, Iruka decided to find where Naruto was and invite him out to ramen. Iruka approached the Third Hokage and asked where Naruto lived. With an address and a mission on his mind, he walked to Naruto’s apartment.

Iruka wanted to tell Naruto how excited he was to have Naruto in his class in a few months. Iruka had grown attached to the nine-tails jinchuriki in their few short meetings. He also wanted to take the boy out to eat something; the boy was too skinny.

When he first met Naruto, he was still emotionally raw from the Nine-tails attack in the village. Iruka was fully expecting to hate the boy. And he did, at first. But soon, Iruka was charmed by Naruto’s optimism, humor, and kindness. Iruka also related to Naruto’s bone-crushing self loathing and loneliness that not only came with being an orphan, but also a prankster. It wasn’t a surprise that Naruto was Iruka's favorite student before the boy even attended the academy. Not that his students needed to know this.

Iruka was knocked out of his remembrance when he bumped into a local merchant. After a quick apology, Iruka recognized that he was close to Naruto’s apartment building. Iruka raced there, eager to see his favorite student.

Naruto’s apartment was easy to find, especially since it had his signature swirl symbol painted below the apartment number. Iruka knocked firmly on the door. To his surprise and horror, the door wasn’t locked or even closed all the way, causing it to open a bit at Iruka’s knocking. Iruka’s earlier mood was killed at the thought of someone getting in to Naruto’s apartment without permission.

Iruka toed open the door and flipped open the sheath holding some of his kunai. Iruka’s first observation of Naruto’s apartment was that it was weirdly tidy. There were no crumbs, no clothing thrown around, not even stuff out of drawers. The next thing Iruka noticed, was two envelopes right on the floor in the walkway of the small apartment and Naruto's iconic frog pouch; it sagged as if it was empty, an unusual thing for the usually round purse. One letter was addressed to the Third Hokage and the other to him in Naruto’s signature scrawl.

Iruka flipped closed his kunai sheath and grabbed both cards. He moved further inside the small apartment. He checked the rest of the apartment and was met with nothing or nobody. It made Iruka feel like something was wrong, but he couldnt put his finger on it.

Iruka delicately opened the letter addressed to him and read what Naruto wrote to him.

Dear Iruka-Sensei,

I don’t know when you will get this letter, but just so you know, I’m fine. I am writing this two weeks before my birthday, I’ll be turning seven, I just wanted you to know, I’m leaving the Leaf Village.

Iruka had to reread the sentence he just read to comprehend its meaning. Once it clicked, he felt sick. Still, he kept reading the letter,

… I am hated here. In this village, I can’t walk down the street without being called a mistake or demon and I don’t know why. Still, I tried to stay. I might not be liked here, but I had food and water and shelter. And you. You were one of the first people to look at me and not be afraid or angry at me. In fact, you still talk to me, and aren’t pretending but are actually my friend. I thought that if I had one special person, I could survive going against everyone else. I was wrong. I can't handle being the scapegoat or the monster here anymore. I don't want anymore beatings So I decided to run, if I’m not treated as a human here, might as well look for somewhere that welcomes monsters. Iruka, I’m sorry and I hope you can forgive me. I couldn’t survive any longer in this village. I want to give you my frog pouch. When things seemed down, it always had a smile. I hope it makes you smile too. Goodbye, may we someday meet again. 

From, Naruto

Iruka was stunned into sitting. He held the letter loosely in his hands. In a moment of hurt and anger, cursed the village for blaming a boy for their hurt; he cursed himself. With anger fueling him into standing, Iruka carefully folded up his letter and placed it in one of his pockets, then dashed over to the Hokage’s office to deliver his letter and discuss what needs to be done.

Lord Third was simply doing the limitless paperwork that came with his job, when he felt the familiar chakra of Iruka-sensei return.

Without looking up, Lord Third quickly and politely asked, “How was your search for Naruto? It seemed quicker than I expected.”

“Lord Third you need to see this.” Iruka's tone booked no argument.

The Third was surprised at the school teachers grave and angered voice. While the school teacher was known for his no nonsense attitude, it was never anger fueling his lectures. When they made eye contact, Iruka handed the Hokage the letter and Hirizen knew it was important. Lord Third helpfully read it aloud.

Dear Lord Third, 

I don’t know when you will be reading this but just so you know, I wrote this letter two weeks before my seventh birthday. I am leaving the village; I can't stay here any longer. I tried to survive the hate. Unfortunately, I couldn’t ignore what happened nearly a week ago. I was walking home, and then I was cornered by two drunk shinobi and a drunk civilian. They used me as a punching bag, I barely did not die. That’s when I decided to leave. Please don’t try to bring me back, but if you do, know that you won’t be able to find me anytime soon. 

From Naruto Uzumaki

The Third was shocked and ashamed as Iruka tried to swallow his rage over the faceless attackers. The Hokage realized that Naruto's birthday came and went and he forgot about it. Iruka beat himself up about it even though he didn't know it was Naruto's birthday. _'I should have though. It is the same day as the Nine-Tailed beast festival, the festival celebrating the victory of the attack.'_

Like Iruka, Hirizen was also beating himself up for forgetting something so important.

_'Lord Forth please forgive me but it seems that I have never protected your son, only let myself by blinded by fake smiles and the false acts of kindness from the citizens. I will find your son, and give him a home.'_

After a moment of silence the Hokage called his Anbu guard, "Get Kakashi in here."

\--------TIME SKIP------

Iruka was ready for the day. He had all the genine teams written down in their correct order. A familiar sadness washed over him as he gazed at the names and none of were the name of a certain missing bright and cheery little boy.

It had been four years since Naruto's disappearance, and there has been no leads. In fact, the anbu on the case were only able to track his scent to a small stream due to other smells and how old naruto's trail was. Even the ninja dogs couldn't follow such an old trail. The only thing the Hokage could do was have every ninja be made aware and on the lookout for the blonde boy as they did their actual missions.

The opening of the classroom door knocked Iruka out of his thoughts. In walked Shikamaru Nara.

A deceptively genius student, now Genine, who had no motivation whatsoever. The boy held the title of dead last. Usually that would warrant the boy be placed with the two highest scoring classmates, but due to his extreme compatibility with Choji -a big kid with a bottomless stomach and the attitude of a pacifist- and Ino -a girl with a mind melding jutsu but is only focused on Sasuke Uchiha-. So instead of deadlast going with the top two scoring classmates,Kiba was in a group with Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruna. Iruka was a bit worried about the match up, but there was a feeling that that was the right choice.

"Iruka-sensei, can I take a nap until everyone else gets here?" Shikamaru asked with his usual bored drawl.

"Sure, but even if I said no, you still would have. You have never stayed awake in my class."

The two shared a smile before Shikamaru sat in his seat and laid his head down while Iruka got back to double checking teams.

Unfortunately and unusually, the Nara heir couldn't rest, instead he asked his, now previous, teacher a question.

"Iruka-sensei?"

The said teacher hummed, seemingly distracted but Shikamaru saw his curiosity and attention. "So you know Sai joined our class a bit late," Another hum. "Who was supposed to be in our class originally? We had a registered full class but without Sai, who was an unpredicted transfer, we were one short." Shikamaru watched the Chunin teacher go still.

To Shikamaru's surprise, Iruka-sensei not only stopped what he was doing but walked towards the boy. He collapsed into the chair beside the boy, who looked more awake then he had ever been in his entire time in academy.

"You're right." The Nara straightened up. "You are going to find out anyways so... There was a boy who was registered to join our class. Unfortunately, he wasn't well liked. This led to prejustice and isolation from the village. He ran away from the village a few months before he was to start academy."

Shikamaru wasn't expecting that, but he noticed that Iruka-sensei looked emotionally exhausted by the conversation even if it was spoken with a cold distance.

"You knew him?" The Nara tried. By Iruka-sensei's widened eyes, Shikamaru was dead on.

Iruka got over his shock quickly, "Yes. He reminded me much of myself, I tried to be someone he could rely on when seemingly the entire village was against him."

The two went silent.

Shikamaru was about to ask another question when the door to the classroom opened. In walked Hinata. The shy girl scanned the classroom. Iruka stood up and returned to his desk; the conversation was over. With a quiet sigh and a mumble of troublesome, Shikamaru didn't follow up on the conversation with Iruka-sensei and nonverbally invited Hinata to sit next to him.

The two now genins had formed a quiet friendship. Hinata was in desperate need of a friend and Shikamaru could use a friend that didn't talk his ear off. Choji didn't count, simply because they were more like brothers at this point.

While Hinata didn't join Shikamaru in ditching class with Choji and Kiba and Akamaru, she was never one to wake him up during class. She even answered some of his questions if Iruka tried to wake up the lazy Nara.

But the reason they were so close friends was because of lazing around. They often spent time together after school. Hinata would make flower crowns, do homework, sometimes hum while Shikamaru would either be sleeping or cloud watching.

Once, while Shikamaru was cloud watching and Hinata was finishing homework, Hinata admitted to the verbal abuse she was put through by her clan, by her father even, in a passing sentence that originated from Shikamaru's question about her family.

To this day, Hinata never seen Shikamaru sit up that fast.

He immediately dragged her to his house. Between him and his father, they made it seem as if Hinata needed training away from the Huyga clan to get stronger, to be a stronger leader.

Now the girl lives in her own flat with no one treating her like a burden. Shikamaru sometimes comes over and just keeps the girl company. Since then, it was like another person was woken up from inside Hinata. In fact, last week the girl sassed Shikamaru; the Nara boy froze and fell asleep bright red listening to Hinata laughing at his shocked face.

A few minutes of Hinata drawing something and Shikamaru dozing, the rest of the class started trickling in.

\---------

Shikamaru walked a bit behind Ino and Choji as the three followed their Jonin sensei, Asuma- sensei.

Ino was complaining about how Sakura was on Saskue's team and she wasn't. Choji looked as if he was listening, but Shikamaru knew better than that; the boy was simply eating his chips not hearing a thing the girl was ranting about.

Shikamaru predicted this would happen. He was dead last in the class, but the idea of another Ino-Shika-Cho team was something the council wouldn't prevent. Their Jonin leader was a throw up though. The only people who couldn't be their leader was their parents. Asuma wouldn't be bad match up though, especially since the three now Genins had trained in teamwork alongside their fathers.

The other teams were also a bit of a guess.

Still, the only teams that held his interest were Kiba's team and Hinata's team. Team 7 was easy enough to predict. Sauske and Sakura were the best boy and girl the class. Usually those two would be paired with the person in dead last in order to have even teams, but because Shikamaru was allowed an exception due to his father's legacy, the second to last was paired up with the two. So, team 7 consisted of Sasuke, Sakura, and Kiba along with Akamaru.

Their Jonin-sensei was really late, though. So, Shikamaru had no knowledge of who would be the leader of team 7.

The team with Hinata in it was all jumbled together. Hinata, Shino, and Sai all had average grades and scores. Hinata was a shy girl who couldn't finish a sentence without stammering, besides to Shikamaru of course. Shino was a quiet boy who's love of bugs was a trait passed down through his clan. The boy, while quiet, was excellent at leadership and compartmentalization. Sai, on the other hand was aloof. When the boy joined the academy late, the boy acted as if he had never done anything remotely childlike. He lived with the Jonin Gai. The man himself was crazy; he practiced nothing but taijutsu. They made an odd pair, but something Gai was doing was helping because as the years went by Sai got more and more... normal. An interesting team they would make.

Shikamaru hummed a bit under his breath as he slowly strolled after his hyper active teammates. Ino was still on about how unfair the teams were and how handsome Sasuke, Choji was on his third bag of chips.

"All right this looks good, we will stop here." Asuma quite literally collapsed onto a bench.

Ino looked around confused, probably expecting something fancier or something.

Choji just sat down on a different bench while Shikamaru sank down next to him. Choji offered the Nara a chip, one Shikamaru would be a fool to refuse. Ino followed the boys example and sat down on the same bench.

"Okay now let's introduce eachother. My name is Asuma Sarutobi."

Ino was first, "I'm Ino Yamanaka."

"I'm Choji Akimichi."

"Shikamaru Nara."

Blissful awkward silence, _‘troublesome’_.

\-----------

Sasuke was silently cursing his luck. Not only did he get a fangirl on his team, he got an idiot as well.

He was silently hoping for Hinata and maybe someone else. Mainly because Hinata was the only girl in the entire academy that didn't look at him with heart eyes.

He couldn't be held down by a few weaklings, especially when he needs to avenge his clan.

Still, this was his team now. Unfortunately, every other team had left besides Kiba, Sakura, and Sasuke. Sakura was trying to sit next to Sasuke, but everytime Sasuke would get up and move to a new seat. Kiba was laughing at the two's weird game of tag. Akamaru dozed in Kiba's hoody.

It wasn't until an hour after even Iruka-sensei left, he gave them an apologetic shrug before leaving for the day, that their Jonin-sensei arrived.

The man walked in and looked odd. Nearly his entire face was covered, besides one single eye and his silver hair. "Yo."

"You're late!" Sakura yelled, still angered by her failed advances with Sasuke and the hours that have passed.

The Jonin ignored the raging Genin. "Meet me on the roof in three minutes." And then the Jonin was gone in a swirl of leaves. It took a total of three seconds before the Genin bounded towards the stairs.

Once on the roof, the Jonin had his new Genin team introduced themselves. "We are going to introduce each other and then mention things we like and dislike about yourselves." The Jonin said as an introduction.

"Why don't you show us how to first so we can understand how to do it." Kiba supplied while Akamaru barked in agreement.

The Jonin raised his one eyebrow before starting, "I'm Kakashi Hakate, things I like and things I hate I don't feel like telling you that. And hobbies, I have lots of hobbies."

Shocked silence.

Kiba shouted in protested while Sakura mumbled how that the Jonin only answered one question, and that was his name. Sasuke was his usual broody self.

"Well then why don't you go, you, on the right." Kakashi motioned to Sakura.

"I'm Sakura Haruno. What I like, I mean who I like..." An obnoxious glance at Sasuke. "My hobbies are..." Another glance. "My hope for the future..." Another damned glance this time with a skreik.

"And what do you dislike?" Kakashi asked.

"Idiots." Kakashi let out a sigh.

Kiba spent his entire life working on his nose, so he could smell the way Sasuke was extremely distressed by the obsessive girl.

Kakashi gave Sakura and the Uchiha a few glances before mentally noting the unhealthy behavior he needs to break.

"Well, I guess I'm next." Sasuke only managed to keep the unease out of his voice with years of practice. "My name is Sasuke Uchiha, I hate a lot of things and I don't particularly like anything. What I have is not a dream because I will make it a reality, I'm going to restore my clan and destroy a certain someone."

Sakura was unnerved a bit by the part about his dream, but she was mostly upset that he said he didn't like anything; more importantly, anyone.

Kiba side glanced Sasuke. He never liked the arrogant boy, but he also had never been this close to the boy. They simply never ran in the same circle, plus Sasuke always was avoiding everyone. Now that they were nearly side by side, Kiba could smell him.

Kiba was trained by his sisters in strengthening his nose, plus his sisters showed him that each human body smells different but each body changes smell due to emotions. For example, when someone is nervous or aroused they sweat more. Right now Kiba can smell that Sasuke is angry, nervous, but most of all sad. Akamaru must've smelled it to because he pawed at Kiba's cheek and they nonverbally decided on a plan. With a nod and yap, they were in agreement.

Once Kiba was finished with his planning, he introduced himself. " I'm Kiba Inuzuka. I like dogs, especially Akamaru here, my friends and goofing off. I dislike bad smells and fleas. I dream to be one of the best trackers in Konoha."

Kakashi was a little relieved that he wouldn't have to focus on the mental health of all three of his Genin, still, Sasuke and Sakura had some worrying answers.

"Great! Now we have a mission tomorrow. It will determine if you will become genin or part of the group that becomes civilians. I decided if you pass or fail. Anyways, meet me at the designated training grounds. Bring your support gear and don't eat breakfast, it will be tough training; I don't want you to throw up halfway through."

Kakashi-sensei left after his bombshell. After him, Sasuke left quickly. Kiba decided to save him and distracted Sakura for a few seconds as Sasuke made his escape.

Sakura tried to hit the young Inuzuka for his defense, then she too was off.

Kiba took a second on the roof to compose himself. He needed to become a genin. The problem is that with this team it will be hard to have seamless teamwork. Between Sakura's unhealthy obsession with Sasuke, plus her hate for every other boy, and Sasuke's immense sadness and hatred, teamwork is going to be an uphill battle. Kiba took a second, but he quickly shook off his worries. _'Well I have to pass the test first before I worry about teamwork.' He and Akamaru ran home to share with his sisters about his new team and new Jonin-sensei._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit longer so ;) ENJOY! Please comments, I would love to hear your outlook/opinion


	3. Update

So I know its been a while and I would like to just inform everyone. I would just like for everyone to know that I'm abandoning this story. This past year has hit me really hard and I regretfully lost focus in a lot of areas. I stopped writing for a while, and when I started to get back into to it, I wasn't motivated enough to keep this story running. Thank you for reading. 

On a separate note. To all the students, good luck on your online schools!! Its going to be weird and different but you got this!

Have a nice day, and thank you again for understanding.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first story so I would love and constructive criticism you can give me. Also my spelling and grammer might not be the best. I'll try to update as often as I can but don't expect a miracle :)


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